POLITICS OF CONSTITUTION MAKING IN DEMOCRATIC MALAWI: A STOCKTAKING OF NEW CONSTITUTIONALISM

Abstract

This study is an examination of politics of constitution making in Malawi since democratization in 1994 with special focus on the constitutional review process between 2004 and 2008. The main purpose is to find out if the process has been representative. Towards this objective, the study set to find out the level of public participation and inclusiveness; and whether and how politics impacted on the process and constitutional choices that actors made. The study was predominantly qualitative although some elements of quantitative approach were used. It involved interviews with various stakeholders including political party leaders and commissioners of the Special Commission on the Review of the Constitution; various documents were also reviewed; questionnaires were also administered to members of the general public. The central argument of this study is that Malawi’s democracy rests on weak foundation for the failure of the process of making the constitution that defines the democratic system. Findings of the study show that some strides have been made in departing from the path of undemocratic constitution making but the process remains undemocratic as far as representation is concerned. Popular participation is very low and political expediency remains a dominant, if not, the motivation for constitutional choices for the actors in the process.